Page 188 of Lau Ahi
I’m definitely in trouble now.
“Why are you up so bloody early?” I glanced down at the digital clock that was next to my side of the bed and my eyes widened because he couldn’t be serious. “It’s not even half five!”
As always, Ori moved around the room with the quiet assuredness that whatever it was he wanted I wouldn’t have a problem with and I hated that he was right. I couldn’t let him win that easily so I stubbornly refused to move. When he took note of my position he stopped what he was doing and gave me his full attention.
“I want to show you something.”
Despite the depth of his voice, there was something light about his demeanor but I had to wonder why he was so eager to move when we had gone to bed only a few hours ago. I’d thought after the way he’d turned into a private dancer at the reception that he wouldn’t have had the energy for a wedding night. I had to stop underestimating this man because we left the reception soon after the dancing to travel to the site of our honeymoon. It hadn’t been that long of a drive but I’d fallen asleep on the way. When he woke me up we were in front of a massive log cabin surrounded by woods. I’d changed out of my lace suit and into lounge clothes, which Sasha insisted were white, and Ori continued to demonstrate he understood the concept of romance and tradition as he picked me up and carried me over the threshold. We then spent the first hours officially as husband and wife making each other cum before we’d both crashed.
I was almost insulted that he had the energy to even move after everything we’d done.
“Nothing good ever comes from a sentence that starts out that way.” I brushed my hair out of my face cursing myself for not braiding it before we went to sleep.
His mouth quirked slightly and I knew that was the best I was going to get out of him especially this early.
“You don’t think so?”
I hated how alert he was and wanted to throw something at him. “No, I actually don’t.”
“We’re trusting each other, right?”
“Are we?”
His brow quirked at my sarcasm. “After last night, I would think so.”
“Sex and vulnerability.”
He walked over to me and picked up the hand where the massive rings he’d placed last night. The band alone could be seen across the room and Nev promised she was in the middle of making me something less flashy but wasn’t going to rush it since I needed to enjoy being so publicly adored. She had to have a little parasite brewing since she was being so damn emotional. I think she cried even more than I had during my wedding.
“Things that you swore you didn’t do that you did with me. That’s trust. Trust that I don’t take lightly. Trust that I’m going to hold in my hands as tightly as possible, since it’s the most precious thing to me. Because it is. The last thing I’m going to do is violate it or lose it. Or you. So, all I’m asking is that you continue to feel what you felt the night you showed me your pain.”
My breath caught in my throat at how passionately he spoke and the intensity in his eyes. “And why is that?”
“So that I can prove to you that it’s well-founded. The trusting me that is.” He kissed the rings he’d placed on my fingers before he stood up fully.
“You drive a hard bargain don’t you, Mr. Nakoa?”
He winked playfully as he went back to getting dressed. “I do, Mrs. Nakoa.”
Bloody butterflies. I had butterflies when he called me Mrs. Nakoa. “You’re going to say that often to charm me aren’t you?”
“I’m going to say that often to remind you.”
“Pray tell what are you reminding me of?” I finally stood up out of bed and stretched, his eyes tracking my frame that was devoid of clothing. I was no longer bashful around him. The scars that were on my thighs no longer felt like a shame to hide but a testament to my strength.
“Your position in my life. What you mean to me.”
“That title doesn’t mean that I mean anything to you. We’re an arrangement, remember?”
“That title means that you mean everything to me.”
“What’s gotten into you?” I wasn’t used to this Ori. The one who gave out effusive praise and romantic gestures.
He bent down and picked up a pair of hiking boots that I assumed were for me. “The fact that you don’t even recognize the simple answer means I need to get on my job.”
I hated that my own insecurities were making him feel as though he was slacking. My shoulders slumped realizing I didn’t have to be this person with him. Not anymore. “Ori—”
Ori only smiled likely disappointed in me for being nice to him. “Get dressed,Ka’iulani. We’ll talk on the way.”
